I am *deathly* afraid of insects and giant hornets seem like the most terrifying thing imaginable. I’ve looked into how common and how much of a problem they are and I’ve gotten conflicting answers so I figured it would be best to ask people directly. How often are giant hornets an issue in Japan? Are they a common nuisance like a housefly? How easy are they to deal with? Should I reconsider moving to Japan if I am unfathomably afraid of them? I’m already horrified at the prospect of dealing with centipedes and I think I might genuinely die of fright if I ever see giant hornets flying around.
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**How common/dangerous are giant hornets**
I am *deathly* afraid of insects and giant hornets seem like the most terrifying thing imaginable. I’ve looked into how common and how much of a problem they are and I’ve gotten conflicting answers so I figured it would be best to ask people directly. How often are giant hornets an issue in Japan? Are they a common nuisance like a housefly? How easy are they to deal with? Should I reconsider moving to Japan if I am unfathomably afraid of them? I’m already horrified at the prospect of dealing with centipedes and I think I might genuinely die of fright if I ever see giant hornets flying around.
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Been here almost 3 years, never seen one once. I’ve seen plenty of other fun funky bugs, but nothing that would hurt me
I live in Chiba Pref/Kashiwa, so a bit out of the way from Tokyo
We have them in my area— Saitama prefecture on the edge of the countryside. If you see one just move away… nobody I know has been stung, but I definitely see them from time to time.
Just saw centipedes for the first time today! They were in my garden and not the giant kind, so it was fine. Lol
Central Tokyo, I see suzumebachi most days flying around. Not oosuzumebachi though. Once one entered my house. Terrifying.
I know you’re about a different insect, but If you’re afraid of cockroaches you definetely want to avoid living in an old building and renting a place online before seeing it.
I see them quite often in my local parks in Tokyo during the summer. So called “long legged” paper wasps and carpenter “bear” bees are more common though. Never been attacked/chased by any and never had one indoors. Every place I’ve lived has had screens on all windows.
Indoors, I only see jumping spiders and the occasional cockroach – only 3 in 5 years at my current place.
They are mostly a countryside bug and nothing to worry about even if you live in the countryside. They act like a drunken biker gang and sometimes seems to hangout on tree stumps like they got nothing to do. Sometimes they like to have nice snacks though of 10 to 100 thousand honeybees though.
In the city though you will also see the regular sized yellow-vent hornets (V. analis) – also they sting something like 1000x more people in Japan per year than do the giant versions because they live in the city.
Honestly both are REALLY easy to avoid if you don’t have to take care of a house.
The bug I really hate to see though are Japanese huntsman spiders. Heebie-jeebies city.